Yama Rising

Thus, in this wilderness in the middle of nowhere, the Cathayan Underworld's King Yanluo and a flower engaged in extensive negotiations, which concluded in an impasse.

Ksitigarbha discovered that this shameless piece of shit really was capable of taking a piss on the flower, while Qin Ye discovered that he hadn't drunk evenou water before coming here...

"Let's stop attacking each other like this. We're comrades fighting in the same trench, and I really do have an urgent request for you. Otherwise, I wouldn't be bothering you at a time like this."

Ksitigarbha's face resembled that of the sunflower in Plants Vs Zombies, and he finally nodded in response. He was also aware that Qin Ye was telling the truth.

The development of the new energy resource had sapped away the time and energy of all of Hell's high-ranking officials, so there really was no spare capacity for them to address the opening of the gates of Heaven. However, he was still furious at the fact that he had been shunned and ignored like this.

His good intentions had fallen upon a cold and heartless subject, and for this, his peers in Heaven had ridiculed him for years! Now that Qin Ye was finally here to see him, he naturally had to get Qin Ye back for this.

However, in the face of truly important matters, these trivial squabbles had to be set aside.

"Are you ready?" Ksitigarbha asked before heaving a forlorn sigh. "Never has there been such a low-key opening of the gates of Heaven before..."

As soon as his voice trailed off, a pillar of golden light erupted straight into the heavens from the center of the lotus flower before plunging into the dense clouds of the underworld. Immediately thereafter, the inky-black clouds began to rapidly revolve as if they were being churned and stirred, forming a Yin energy vortex that was hundreds of meters in radius.

Inside the vortex, the golden light fanned out silently, forming a light screen that was several dozen meters wide. The screen depicted one antiquated Cathayan-style building after another, all of which were hovering among the clouds like abodes for the gods. Streaks of light were dancing near these heavenly abodes like fireflies flying around a fire on a summer's night, further contributing a sense of mystique and majesty to this already awe-inspiring scene.

"Is this Heaven?" Qin Ye's eyes narrowed slightly as he took a closer look, and he discovered that those streaks of light were flying carriages, some of which were drawn by azure birds, while others were drawn by qilins, resembling asteroid belts revolving around planets.

These heavenly abodes weren't the only things depicted on the light screens, there were also trees that extended up into the heavens through the sea of clouds. The trees were riddled with vines and burls, and a series of vibrant vermillion birds were perched upon them. Colorful auspicious clouds were drifting around the trees, and it was impossible to tell their age. Under the light of the sun, the canopies of these giant trees, the sea of clouds, and the heavenly abodes created such a beautiful sight to behold that it scarcely seemed real.

There were also mountains hovering above the clouds, some of which were situated around the heavenly abodes. Occasionally, a giant beast would rise up, scattering the clouds around it, and only then would one realize that these mountains were being carried on the backs of these giant beasts.

"It's so beautiful," Qin Ye couldn't help but remark.

A faint smile appeared on Ksitigarbha's face as he replied, "Of course. After all, this is the final home to all gods."

As soon as his voice trailed off, the golden light screen abruptly converged toward the center, and several dozen figures scattered themselves onto the earth like a cluster of stars.

At the very center of the group was a man wearing a monk robe.

It was impossible to tell his age. If you were to call him young, he had a pair of eyes that seemed to have witnessed the entire passage of history, and they simply didn't belong on a young man. However, if you were to call him old, there wasn't a single wrinkle on his face, and his back wasn't hunched over in the slightest, so there didn't seem to be anything elderly or wizened about him.

He was wearing an extremely ordinary yellow monk robe, and he joined his palms together with a faint smile. A nine-ringed monk staff was resting at the bend of one of his arms, and a rootless lotus flower was in a process of constantly withering away before blooming again beneath his feet. Behind his head was an indistinct golden wheel of light, and he looked directly into Qin Ye's eyes as he said, "I hope that you've been well, Yanluo Qin?"

It was Ksitigarbha!

Qin Ye had thought that there would be countless things that he wanted to say when he finally had the chance to meet one of the former rulers of Hell, but in the presence of Ksitigarbha, he suddenly discovered that nothing needed to be said, nor did he want to say anything.

"Likewise," he replied with a smile as he also joined his own palms together.

From obtaining the fragments of King Yanluo's Seal in Clear Creek County, to being pursued by Dong Zhuo's Assassins of the Underworld, to entering the Special Investigations Department, to the battles of Tsushima, Daehan, Alkebulan... He had endured countless hardships and tribulations to reach his current position.

Whether he had been willing to accept the fragments of King Yanluo's Seal or not, all of the people that had featured in his life, all of the people and things that he had been attached to in the past... In the wake of a complete change in his mental stage, were those things really still important?

At the very least, he had already grown accustomed to and was enjoying this lifestyle.

Right at this moment, the dozens of heavenly soldiers behind Ksitigarbha fell to one knee in unison as they said in a respectful manner, "We pay our respects to the ruler of Hell!"

Only then did Qin Ye cast his gaze toward them. "No need for formalities."

All of them were wearing antiquated attire that had clearly been carefully selected. They were all handsome individuals wearing tight-fitting white robes, upon which were embroidered intricate designs depicting flowers or birds. On their heads were white jade crowns with a golden hairpin to keep their hair in place, and just like Ksitigarbha, all of them were giving off faint wisps of immortal energy.

Furthermore, they were all at the Soul Hunter level!

"This is quite a grand welcome," Qin Ye said as he turned back toward Ksitigarbha. "Should we take a walk?"

It was clear that they wanted to speak to one another, and all of the heavenly soldiers immediately took that as their cue to leave. Thus, all of them dispersed into the surrounding area, and not a single one of them approached the altar. The two Yama-Kings casually strolled along for a while before Qin Ye finally broke the silence. "I was thinking about something just now. Back on Kunlun Mountain, you said that the powers of Heaven and Hell stem from the same source, and that the only difference lies in the form of expression."

Ksitigarbha nodded in response. "The Aurogon asked me to relay that message to you. Is there something wrong?"

"We've encountered a bottleneck in our research, and we're currently facing a dilemma," Qin Ye replied with furrowed brows.

A serious look appeared on his face as he turned toward Ksitigarbha before asking, "Do you know of string theory?"

"I've heard of it."

"The basic form in which matter in the underworld is constructed is based on string theory. As I'm sure you're already aware, what our Cathayan Underworld is currently developing is something that will have an unimaginably massive impact on the entire world, it's something that will usher in a new era! We're already standing in front of the gate leading to the new era, but there are no more steps ahead of us."

KKsitigarbha nodded in response. He knew how it felt for something to be so close, yet so far away at the same time.

"We have one final theory, and if that theory doesn't work, then we'll most likely have to extend the duration of our research by at least two years, even up to three to five years. However..."

"It's very unpredictable," Ksitigarbha completed his sentence for him with a faint sigh.

Qin Ye nodded as he continued, "Our final choice is to use immortal energy to form the required membrane just as Xu Fu did in the past. As such, I have two questions that I hope you can answer. Firstly, how do you explain the statement that the powers of Heaven and Hell stem from the same source?"

Ksitigarbha thought about this for a few seconds before replying, "It means exactly what it says. Firstly, you have to know that the mortal realm was the first realm to come into existence, and Heaven and Hell only emerged after it. The mortal realm may be the weakest of the three realms, but it's the foundation of both Heaven and Hell. Seeing as the mortal realm is the first realm to exist, it was also the first place where the power system was developed. 'Power' is nothing more than a way to gather and use the surrounding particles or strings. Of course, I'm not an expert in this field, but I'm sure you can understand what I'm saying."

Qin Ye nodded in response, and Ksitigarbha continued, "Hence, the powers of Heaven and Hell are both essentially different ways to use true energy. With true energy as the basis, if you go up infinitely high, then you'll have immortal energy, and if you go down infinitely low, then you'll have Yin energy. However, if true energy, immortal energy, and Yin energy are to be viewed as three lines, then they were all the same line initially, and they only split up into three separate things later on. This is what I mean when I say that they stem from the same source, do you understand what I'm saying?"

It was clear that Ksitigarbha wasn't well versed with scientific vocabulary, but he was sufficiently familiar with Yin energy, so this was an explanation that could be understood.

"It's said that if one can return Yin energy, true energy, and immortal energy to their initial origin point, then they would attain a type of power known as chaos, and throughout all of history, only a single person in the three realms have mastered this type of power."

"You mean the second King Yanluo?" Qin Ye asked with a stunned expression.

Ksitigarbha nodded in confirmation with a faint smile. "Those who attain this type of power are said to have gone beyond the Yama-King level. However, the second King Yanluo has clearly traveled extremely far down this path and reached an even higher level than that."

Qin Ye was just about to nod in response when a thought suddenly occurred to him.

He was already well aware of just how overpowered the second King Yanluo was.

What exactly could be lurking behind the world's gate in Australis that would require even someone like him to guard?

This was something that had triggered the unrest on the new continent, released a grand script of death into the world, and had to be guarded by the second King Yanluo in person...

Not only that, even the three saints had to be there as well!

However, this wasn't the time to be considering that. After taking a moment to arrange his own thoughts, he asked, "Are you saying that if we use immortal energy as a membrane, the new energy resource won't be affected?"

"Theoretically speaking, that should definitely be the case," Ksitigarbha replied in a confident manner.

Qin Ye heaved a long sigh of relief upon hearing this.

Now, all they needed was to test whether the failed Genesis experiment would be a success with the inclusion of this membrane.

The failure of an experiment could be caused by several different factors, and even though they didn't know the final answer yet, at the very least, they were on the right track!

Qin Ye forcibly repressed the urge to return to the laboratory right away as he asked, "What about the costs? If this works, then this will be the model for the new energy resource. In order to create the new energy resource, immortal energy will have to be used. How much will that cost?"

Ksitigarbha's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and only after pondering the question for a long time did he reply, "The three realms are said to be unable to interact with one another, but in reality, they have always been tied together throughout the course of history. Do you know where immortal energy comes from?"

Qin Ye shook his head in response.

Ksitigarbha continued, "As the gates of Heaven were opened, I'm sure you saw the sea of clouds up above. That sea of clouds has a name, it's known as the heavenly river! It comes from the creation-grade divine artifact of Heaven, the Fortune Jade Plate, and its ability is the same as that of King Yanluo's Seal in that the Fortune Jade Plate attracts the heavenly river, while the heavenly river attracts immortal energy. Essentially, if you want to use immortal energy, then you'll have to permanently station a massive amount of manpower in Heaven and also prepare large batches of immortal energy storage equipment."

Qin Ye's heart sank slightly upon hearing this.

This was what he was most afraid of. There was no way that they could handle the costs involved in this plan!

The new energy resource was only a stepping stone, the main objective that Qin Ye wanted to achieve was to propel the dragon jade to international supremacy using a new energy resource that could be distributed to the entire world.

It was a spear, but the spear wasn't worthy of fear, it was the soldier holding the spear!

According to what Ksitigarbha had just described, the costs involved would be so high that the new energy resource would only be able to satisfy domestic demand at the very most, which meant that there was no way it could be released to the entire world. In that case, what was the point in working so hard for it? All of the political maneuvers that Qin Ye had prepared were going to fail anyway!

"However..." Right at this moment, Ksitigarbha's brows suddenly furrowed slightly as he said, "Perhaps there's another way."

Can you not finish what you're saying in one go?!

Qin Ye glared at Ksitigarbha and was struck by the urge to take a piss on him!

After a long pause, Ksitigarbha finally continued, "I'll tell you about it later. All you need to know is that the entirety of the heavenly river comes from the heavenly waterfall, which is the place where immortal energy is most abundant and most rich. Coincidentally, the heavenly soldiers that have come here on this occasion..."

A slightly awkward look appeared on his face as his voice trailed off before he cleared his throat. "You'll know when the time comes. That may be a plausible path for you to pursue."

All of a sudden, a contemplative look appeared on Qin Ye's face as he looked up at the sky.

Ksitigarbha was rather perplexed by the sudden change in Qin Ye's demeanor, and after a long while, Qin Ye suddenly asked, "Do you remember the other message that the Aurogon asked you to relay to me during our meeting on Kunlun Mountain?"

Before Ksitigarbha had a chance to reply, he answered his own question. "The message was 'go against the flow'! You just mentioned a heavenly waterfall, right?"

Ksitigarbha slightly upon hearing this, and several seconds later, his eyes lit with enlightenment as he also looked up at the sky. "I see! The foresight of the Aurogon is truly incredible!"